Multiple towel holder and dispenser



July 20, J, RQUSSO MULTIPLE TOWEL HOLDER AND DISPENSER Filed May 14,1945 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 77Z/77 07" JACUES IQOZ/5SO, 3) L I July 20, 1948.J ousso 2,445,495

MULTIPLE TOWEL HOLDER AND DISPENSER Patented July 20, 1948 UNITED STATESPATENT OFFICE ULT BLE TOWEL HOLD E-AND. DISPENSER Jacques Rousso, LpsAngeles, Calif.

Application May 14, 1945, Serial No. 593,578;

7 Claims. 1

nv nt on l t s oimprov m nt in towel holders, More particularly, itrelates to. improvements in controlled multiple tower holders. j.t.-.also. relatesto com-controlled means for disrentin o lsobject, amongothers, of the invention is a p ov on. o fli ient s mple ndv l t v yexpensive means controlled by a ,coin for. releas ing. towels fordrying. hands, etc.

Another objectrelates to improveclmeans for storing clean and soiledtowels.

These andother objects and advantages will appear more fullyhereinafter,

In .the drawings:

Fig. 1. is, a, perspective view of the cabinet em o ng my inventio Fig..2; is a sectional View on the line 2-2 of Fig.1..

Fig. 3- is.a. detailed perspective of the soiled towel rackshownat thebottom of Fig. 1.

Fig. 4, is atop plan view of the coin slide and gripping devic inposition for the withdrawalof atowel.

Fig. 5.is.an enlarged detailed section showing the clean towel storagemeans and the rack. for transferring. towels to,the removablesoiled=towel stora e rack, and showing the towel ready. for use beforebeing dropped to the soiled-tcwelstorage rack.

Fig. 6 is a, fragmental sectional View ofthe supplemental rack.

Referring to the drawings in detail, I have shownacabinet Ill, having afront wall Hv and aback wall I2;

Theback. wall l2 has a section I2a, which is hinged. to,- a, top,section IZb, which is. in turn hinged tothe front. wall ll, so that.walls [2a and l2b may be lifted up andswung upon each other in order topermitthe insertion of clean towels into the .cleanetowel storagemaintrack- Way or-rack 15, as will more fully hereinafter 311 9334 7.;

Side? walls; l3; together with a forwardjwall lie; and; the:intermediate wallformed by the lower portion. of the front wall ll, forma well lfljfflr. the storageof soiled towels.

Theclean-towel supply is shown at l; held-in placeby-means ofachannel-shaped clean-towel rackl6, supported in the cabinet between thesidewalls I 3.

Ihe towels have grommets l'I and'are attached to plates l8 by meansoflinks l9 forming towel holders.

e plates, in n, hare ap rtures 0,. nd. are

2: supported on pins 2!, which also support a pair of rollers 22.

These rollers are adapted to be inserted one on top of the other intherack l6,- the plates-l8 projecting from the rack l6 through a slot 23 inthe rack I8.

This slot is present in all parts of the rack or trackway, aswellasinthe soiledtowel-storage rack, as will hereinafter more fully appear.

Theslot, whichis vertical, isclearlyillustrated in Fig. 3.

It will be readily understood thatthe rollers are placed one uponanother in the clean-towel storage rack Hi.

The front wall H has a window24 tor the purpose of indicating when thesupply oi clean towels is exhausted or nearingexhaustion.

To accomplishthispurpose, there isagravityoperated indicator 25 havingasupport26 resting upon a foot piece 21, which in turn rests-upon thetop mostpf the towel rollers 22'. r

The indicator 25 is connected to thesupport 26 by side members formingabracket-28, as; shown in dotted lines in Figure 2 and the lower ends-ofthe support 26' extend forward resting-upon the rollers 22 of the towelholders sothat-as the towels move downward, the supp0rtf26 andtheindicator 25 will also move downward untilthe indicator shows throughthe window 24. 7 When the indicatorshows through the window 24; thetowel rack is empty.

When the towels are-nearing exhaustion, the indicator 25 will registerwith the window 24-to indicate that fact by any suitable symbol orlettering,

The coin operating means may be any oneofa number of suitable well-knownmeans for actuating the release of a towel upon the insertion -o f acoin, such as in Patent Nos. 1,908,880; 19083752,

1,992,642, 2,026,921, 2.0493597- and gripping members upon contact withthe rollers until the heads ride outside the rollers and past therollers when they will snap together behind the rollers.

Integrally formed with the plate 3| is a base plate 38, which is locatedbetween the grippers 34, and the shoulders 31 thereof limit the movementof the grippers toward each other.

The grippers may move in a guideway 39, adapted to guide the movement ofthe grippers backwardly and forwardly in a well defined pathway, and theplate 3| may be connected by means of a pair of vertical piers 49 to thecoin mechanism above.

The cabinet is provided with a roller rack below the guideway 39. Therack is adjustably supported in brackets 4!, the ends of which areprovided with slots 42 in which a roller 43 at the upper end of the rackis mounted. Additional rollers similar to the roller 43 are suspendedtherefrom by links 44 at the ends thereof.

An advantage of these rollers is that they are located to have the cleantowels rest upon them so as to facilitate the withdrawal of the bottomclean towels.

There may be a number of these rollers 43, and when the gripperswithdraw the bottom clean towel, these towels will ride against therollers 43 and facilitate their withdrawal thereby.

The grippers, upon the insertion of a coin, will withdraw the cleantowel at the lower end of the rack 16 through the guideway 39 andthrough an opening in the upper part of the intermediate partitionforming the lower portion of th front wall H. The grippers 34 draw theclean towel along the guldeway 39 with the towel holder passing throughthe slot 39a to the opening 39!) in the lower surface of the casing 32.

When a roller 22 reaches the opening 3% it will drop by gravity onto thecurved upper portion of the rack 45, as particularly seen in Fig, 5, andthen the towel is ready for use. It should be understood that there is aslot 39a in the guideway 39 to permit the plate I8 to ride along underthe rollers 22.

There also may be provided a short semi-circular supplemental rack 43having arms 41 and 48.

This rack may have a cut-out 49 registering with a cut-out 50 in therack 45. r

The supplemental rack 45 may be welded to the rack 45 where they line upwhen the cut-outs are in registry.

This supplemental rack will also have a slit for the chain of the towelin the same manner as the rack 45.

This supplemental rack will serve to permit towels to be used by personsstanding at the sides of the cabinet by drawing the towels sidewisewhile at the same time a towel may be used by a person standing at thefront of the cabinet.

The rack 45 will lead down into the soiledtowel well l4 to register withthe removable substitute an empty removable rack for new soiled towels,and lock the same.

He also will unlock the lock for the hinged doors on top of the cabinetand lift out the indicator and insert a new supply of clean towels, andthen replace the indicator on top of the topmost clean towels.

It will also be understood that a large number of towels may be storedin the clean-towel storage space, especially since the rollers may bemade almost as small as desired.

While I have illustrated and described the preferred form ofconstruction for carrying my invention into efiect, this is capable ofvariation and modification without departing from the spirit of theinvention. I, therefore, do not wish to be limited to the precisedetails of construction set forth, but desire to avail myself of suchvariation and modifications as come within the scope of the appendedclaims,

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new and desire tosecure by Letters Patent is:

1. In a towel holding device of the class described, a cabinet, aplurality of towels therein, a set of rollers attached to each towel, atrackway for said rollers, and a coin-controlled, manually operatedgripping device adapted to grip a single set of rollers and to pull saidrollers with the attached towel from said cabinet.

2. In a towel holding device of th class described, a cabinet, aplurality of towels therein, a set of rollers attached to each towel, atrackway for said rollers, and a coin-controlled, manually operatedgripping device adapted to grip a single set of rollers and to pull saidrollers with the attached towel from said cabinet, said trackwaycontinuing continuously downwardly into a lower soiled towel section ofsaid cabinet, whereby said towels may fall by gravity after use,

3. In a towel holding device of the class de scribed, a cabinet, aplurality of towels therein, a set of rollers attached to each towel bymeans of a grommet, a trackway for said rollers, and a coin-controlled,manually operated gripping device adapted to grip a single set ofrollers and to pull said rollers with the attached towel from saidcabinet.

4. In a towel holding device of the class described, a cabinet, aplurality of towels therein, a set of rollers attached to each towel, amain trackway for said rollers, and a coin-controlled, manually operatedgripping device adapted to grip a single set of rollers and to pull saidrollers with th attached towel from said cabinet, and a supplementaltrackway outside said cabinet, connecting with said main trackway andextending on either side of said main trackway and at substantiallyright angles thereto.

5. In a towel holding device of the class described, a cabinet, aplurality of towels therein, a set of rollers attached to each towel, atrackway in the upper part of said cabinet and protruding horizontallyfrom said cabinet for said rollers, and a coin-controlled, manuallyoperated gripping device adapted to grip a single set of rollers and'topull said rollers with the attached towel from said cabinet, a secondtrackway beginning at a point below the horizontal portion of thefirst-mentioned trackway and adapted to receive said rollers by gravityfrom said first-mentioned trackway, said second trackway extendingcontinuously into a lower soiled towel bin, whereby said rollers and.said attached towel may be delivered by gravity to said bin.

6. In a towel holding device of the class described, a cabinet, aplurality of towels therein, a set of rollers attached to each towel, atrackway for said rollers, and a coin-controlled, manually operatedgripping device adapted to grip a single set of rollers and to pull saidrollers with the attached towel from said cabinet, a second set of fixedrollers in said cabinet adapted to contact said towels and reduce thefriction of their removal from said cabinet.

'7. In a towel holding device of the class described, a cabinet, aplurality of towels therein, a pair of rollers with towel connectingmeans between them and a slotted trackway adapted to contain saidrollers, but not said towel holding means, and a coin-controlled,manually operated gripping device adapted to grip a single set ofrollers and to pull said rollers with the attached towel from saidcabinet.

JACQUES ROUSSO.

6 REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file ofthis patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 359,213 Leavitt Mar. 8, 1887622,508 Meyer Apr. 4, 1899 780,418 Garlick Jan. 17, 1905 1,070,536 RohdeAug. 19, 1913 1,225,390 Anderson May 8, 1917 1,367,033 Fritsche Feb. 1,1921 1,386,814 Van Der Wyk Aug. 9, 1921 1,437,970 Fritsche et a1 Dec. 5,1922 2,190,879 Mayfield (1) Feb. 20, 1940 2,287,387 Mayfield (2) June23, 1942

